Media Focused On Dissident Instead Of Beyonce, Cuban Official Laments

The media is too fixated on Cuba's best-known dissident, blogger Yoani Sanchez, who is on an 80-day multination tour, and has not focused enough on important news in Cuba like the visit of pop star Beyonce, a Cuban official said on Thursday.

The media is too fixated on Cuba's best-known dissident, blogger Yoani Sanchez, who is on an 80-day multination tour, and has not focused enough on important news in Cuba like the visit of pop star Beyonce, a Cuban official said on Thursday.

Jose Cabanas, the top Cuban diplomat based in the United States, said Sanchez was garnering much more media coverage than necessary after she was granted a passport and set off in February on a journey to more than a dozen countries.

"Too much attention has been devoted to this lady, taking a lot of attention from the most important ... news that has been happening these days in regards to Cuba," Cabanas said in response to a question at the Inter-American Dialogue, a Washington-based think tank.

"Including the presence of Beyonce, the singer, who is today in Havana, enjoying a lot of attention from the public, but it's not covered by the media - incredible."